Mysteryland
by Picaro
Summary: (MurakiOriya) When you miss somebody that badly that each day without him seems like living hell, what will you do when the devil offers you a pact to find this beloved person again? Oriya must make a decision when a shikigami-like creature grates him a c
1. Noh Theatre

A requested Oriya-Post-Kyoto-Dare.

The conditions: Oriya-centric, Post Kyoto, One Shot, Hints of Muraki/ Oriya, other/own characters allowed...

And that's what I made of it!

P.S: As a marginal note, please think of Tepesh as some sort of strange, wicked parasitical shiki. Nothing else. I have a serious dislike against Series Character/OC Pairings, so won't find them in my stories. Thanks for your attention.

For you, **Bea-Chan**!!!

-------------------------

The Cherry-Blossom-Festival...

Every year, thousands and thousands of people would travel long ways from their homes to visit the festivities that were held in about each and every one of the bigger cities. Natives and curious foreign visitors alike would herd around the wonderfully blooming trees, participate in the offered events, buy from the stands and much, much more...

Mibu Oriya didn't particularly like the time of the Cherry Blossoms.

Not since Muraki had vanished about a half year ago...

Watching his servants mingle themselves with the happy crowd, Oriya couldn't help but heave a heavy sigh at the thought of the silver-haired man.

"Muraki... Where did you go this time?"

The whole thing of his closest friend vanishing and re-appearing again and again was nothing new to the tall, black-haired man, yet it still hurt him every time anew. They were so close for so long...- Sometimes he really hated those shinigami and the fact that they had such a power over Muraki. It wasn't right, being possessed of death like that... Not right at all.

A tired smile formed on his face, as he remembered that the shinigamis weren't completely alone to blame. Muraki´s grandfather and his notices were also important. Without them, his beloved, maniacal friend would have never heard from that certain violet-haired shinigami and his insanity wouldn't have been able to progress that far...

..an insanity that not even Oriya had been able to restrict...

The ebony-haired man shook his head in a silent sigh. That wasn't true... Nobody and nothing could have ever cured Muraki´s possessive insaneness, and Oriya knew that too. He always had. But that had never stopped him from trying it anyway. Feeling tired of watching the happy crowd, Oriya turned his back to the crowd and started heading towards a more secluded section of the voluptuous Sakura tree field.

There were more than five hundred Sakura trees blooming, and still Oriya couldn't bring his mind from the depressive issue of the silver-haired doctor. Watching the white and pinkish hued blossoms fall, Oriya continued further away sounds of the festival. If he remembered right there had to be some smaller shrine around there somewhere... Maybe he could relax himself a little there.

It didn't take him long to find the shrine. Though it could be hardly called that. Miniature-shrine would be more fitting. It sufficed the swordsman's wantings, however. The red-clad swordsman flew over the formalities which were expected from visitors (skipping most of them in the process), and finally settled himself in the little hall right before the shrines main-artefacts.

Artefacts... Oriya silently hmped in displeasure. Most of those oh-so-holy stuff were cheaply-made copies anyway. Still, he guessed he should bid the resident deities (whoever they were) his good wills at least a little. The fact the he possibly wouldn't be as alone, as he thought he was, never crossed his mind.

Watching from the shadows, a figure raised delicate yet pointy-nailed fingers to it's lips, a faint chuckle escaping it's lips._ What a great opportunity!_

Dawn had passed before Oriya found himself exiting the small shrine again. Small as it was, it's simplicity had held something within it that had helped the dark-haired man find his inner peace again, if only for short. He knew that as soon as he'd re-entered the festival area and returned to his overly worrying staff, everything would be back to it's old pace again. But yet, he still had time.

Slowly walking past the silent alleys of Sakura trees, Oriya found himself wondering about how he had to be looking right now. A tall, red-cloth man with long dark hair, traditional styled clothes and a small pipe in his mouth. Really. All that missed was a pair of Katanas hanging from his belt and everybody who saw him would have to involuntary think of him as an apparition of a Ronin from the past centuries.

Oriya´s lips twitched into a lazy smile at the thought. Muraki would surely have liked that, his old friend Oriya running around and scaring people into thinking him a specter... The doctor would have heartedly laughed at that. – And probably taken care that possibly much people would cross the ebony-haired man's way.

Muraki had always held a rather strange sense of humor...

The call of a lone flute broke through the night. Jerking slightly in surprise, Oriya quickly scanned his surroundings, searching for the reason of the loud noise. Whoever it was, he/she was playing only single notes, holding them shortly and creating a haunting, yet beautiful melody. Oriya followed the sound further. It led him to a couple of trees that were standing in a loose crescent, creating a dead end in the other-wisely open alley of trees. Oriya raised an eyebrow. The place was practically perfect for an ambush, close enough to the main part of the festival for every noise that could raise suspicions to be drowned out , but far enough away that there would be no unintentional witnesses walking in on the spectacle.

Were Oriya any other man and not befriended with Muraki Kazutaka, one of Japan's strangest man(and thus used to strange and creepy occurrences), he'd probably feel at least uneasy about noticing these facts. But Oriya was Oriya and didn't feel particularly bothered by it. Especially not since he'd finally found the mysterious flute player.

Her lone figure was casually draped against one of the trees, her head facing away from him. A long, red kimono-like over cloak was fluttering silently in one of the evenings many breezes before hanging close to her figure again. Standing like that, she looked like from one of the old masters paintings that had come to life. Oriya sucked in a silent breath. What a jewel of a woman! She had to be breathtakingly beautiful. (-and thus valuable, as his business-man instincts immediately supplied.)

At least Oriya _assumed_ that it was a her.

The figure lowered the wooden flute from her lips, halting momentarily. It was obvious she knew that Oriya was there.

Pale, long fingers brushed through long, raven-black hair, making highlights in the colours of fresh ashen appear for seconds in the loosely worn mass before disappearing again. Oriya´s eyes narrowed at the gesture. The fingers were long and slim, each digit moving with refined elegance – an artists fingers.

But that wasn't what caught the dark-haired man's interest. It were the sharp finger nails that were each cut in a way to imitate a youkai´s claws perfectly, though still managing to look human and alluring. A soft chuckle escaped the figure's lips. The voice was low and melodious, but also sounded somewhat muffled, as if the sounds were hold back by something else.

"Did you like my little night music?"

There was clear cockiness swinging through the voice. All intentions of a polite answer were cut off Oriya´s lips as the figure turned, unfathomable eyes watching him through the pinkish-rimmed eyeholes of a Noh-cat mask.

A cat-mask that Oriya knew just too well.

It was his own.

---

****

_Come with me and you will see,_

_When we are going through the mirror,_

_You won't believe your eyes anymore._

_Just be brave, trust me, this world will please you too,_

_Full of the most beautiful and unbelievable horror._

_Full of the most beautiful and unbelievable horror..._

_---_

_****_

Disclaimer: The author of this story doesn't have any rightful claims to the series Yami no Matsuei. This story was written for the entertainment factor only.


	2. Tepesh

Story Type: Requested Dare-Fic

Genres: Supernatural, Horror

Rating: PG-13

Beta-ed: Yes

Part: 2/3

Last note: Thanks a great lot to you people who reviewed!

-------------------------

"...Shocked?"

The other person laughed. Oriya didn't have to see the other's features to know that a light, haughty smile was gracing her lips. Suddenly Oriya wasn't so sure that the figure in front of him was a female at all anymore. Although the refined gestures and the fact the he/she wore their long hair open made it easy to assume that it was indeed a woman he was talking to, the broad, well-formed shoulders made it somewhat hard to believe. Also, the voice had been just a tad too deep to properly pass as a female's.

The person he was talking to was more than likely male.

"So? Cat got your tongue?"

The other had tilted his face lightly, a gesture that fit only too well with the cat mask he wore. All the time Oriya had scrutinized him, the other man had watched him back just as closely as well. Taking a few considerate steps closer to the taller man, he gestured his hands, putting the flute away.

"-Or is it that you thought me a woman on the fist sight?"

Oriya jerked lightly at that. Seeing this, the figure chuckled again, raising his fingers to the mask. "Please, don't feel upset about it. Neither am I. With this clothing and wearing my hair like that, it's only natural to assume that I'm a female."

Still chuckling, he completed the motion of his hand and swiftly brushed the Neko- Noh-mask off.

Oriya felt his body turn to ice at what was revealed.

Not only the mask and, as he realized in an afterthought, also the clothes and the way of wearing his hair, but also the face that faced his were absolutely identical with his own.

They weren't really quite complete identical, he realized after the first, shocked moment. There was a difference.

No matter how skilful the artist and how perfect the picture, there were always some small, insignificant differences between the artwork and the original, living life.

The man opposing him was too young.

Mibu Oriya wasn´t vain. And he most definitely was no fool. He also was no twenty-one or something odd almost teen anymore. Though people tended to majorly mistake his age for several years too young. Still...

Feeling a sudden wave of anger surge through his veins, Oriya let his face turn into a frown. The other man blinked, obviously caught by surprise at such an reaction. Oriya caught another difference the impostor had overlooked. The eyes. They were a different colour than his.

Were Oriya´s eyes were of a supple, gentle honey-liked brown, those _´boy's_´ were of a striking garnet colour. Those were unholy eyes. Seeing them, Oriya unconsciously made a step back. But then he felt anger again. What was wrong with him?! He'd witnessed more un- and supernatural things enough to last for more than twenty lives in his time with Muraki alone! Not to mention that he'd already fought a very real Shinigami with a Katana!!... _So why were that strange boy's eyes distressing him that much?_

No... It wasn't only the eyes or the strange behaviour he displayed. It was the whole boy itself.

"...thing wrong?"

"Eh?" Oriya jerked up, noticing for the first time that the other had been speaking with him. "What did you say?" Giving him a surprised look, the boy's lips curled into an amused smile that Oriya immediately didn't like.

"...Really." He remarked, his voice velvety and enticing. "You weren't even paying attention." His voice withheld a little pout. Oriya instinctively strengthened his resolve. His voice was like honey; or liquid amber. If he didn't watch out he'd end like all those unfortunate insects that were seen enclosed in that amber-trinkets. Although he was curious, Oriya didn't plan on ending like this.

Whatever it was that motivated the boy, it didn't know what it got itself into by choosing out-of-all-people Oriya for the role of it's prey. Nobody who had been around with somebody like Muraki as long as him could be taken lightly.

_Muraki... Who had left him now forever due to his stupid hunting for that shinigamis!_ That thought came unwelcomed and stung through the long-haired man's brain like on scorching flames.

"Kukuku..." The other wore a sly face again and suddenly his face looked nothing like Oriya's anymore. The expressions on it resembled Muraki's more. Garnet eyes kept smirking at him. "Looks like our meeting's stirring old wounds open again." He questioningly tilted his head. "Or are they only bad memories that you wish to forget?"

For a moment silence reigned. The words had stung, and Oriya himself was surprised just how much. The other one had no right speaking to him like that.

"Enough."The word left Oriya´s mouth like an angry growl. "Finally tell me, who are you?!"

The younger shadow doppelganger chuckled, raising his elegant fingers in front of his mouth in a feeble attempt to hide his apparent amusement. The gesture was as effortlessly elegant and mocking as Oriya had only seen somebody else perform it once. Muraki.

"Language, language, Oriya..."

The younger male's bright, garnet eyes watched him with barely hidden glee.

"That's not a fine way for an educated brothel – lord to speak, now is it?"

Oriya felt a cold shudder running down his spine. Even his mocking resembled Muraki's! "Where... How do you know me..?" The words left his throat in a dry croak. The other man chuckled again.

"Nothing's for free, especially not answers to certain questions... You'll know all you need to know once you're willing to pay the price. Otherwise, I fear I'll have to remain silent."

The expression on Oriya´s face fell. That ´boy´ obviously knew something, - a lot more than he even dared to assume-, but like he'd said, certain knowledge only came with certain prices that were to be paid. It was that way with the supernatural. The tall man didn't even get close to the question of what that price would be, knowing that it was the same as signing his upcoming destiny.

Giving the other a long, stern last look, he silently turned to leave. "Ah?" The disappointment in the other's voice was not to be overheard. Oriya allowed a little smile to cross his lips. He hadn't survived with Muraki close to him that long for nothing.

Giving the other a sideway-glance back from the corner of his eyes, he shrugged lightly.

"I'm leaving. Since my companions will probably already be searching for me and you obviously don't want to talk with me..." He shrugged again.

"Hey. I _AM_ talking to you!"

"You've been talking a lot. But you didn't actually _SAY_ something, did you?"

The other's red-clad shoulders slumped. "But- !!"

Oriya suppressed a grin. _Gottcha! _Pulling his pipe out and lightening it, he inhaled a deep drag of the legal drug. Behind him, he could literally hear the gears in the boy's head spin, desperately trying to find a way to wiggle the situation back into his control. Finally, he only shrugged his shoulders, trying to make a great show out of his disinterest of Oriya´s actions.

"Fine. Be that way." He glared at him in a way that made the older man need all of his control to not burst out laughing at him. Really, that _glare_ was more of an angry child's pout than anything else!

Catching the other man's facial expression, the doppelganger's face twisted into a defiant smirk.

"Clever, clever, oh so terribly clever Oriya-san..." He all but sang. "I have to admit you're the first to react to me in that way. Just as you're the first to get me out of it like that. I admit this much." His smirk turned from defiant to sadistic. "However... You're alone and there's always a next time for the likes of me. Remember that."

Those garnet eyes possessed nothing human more.

Oriya firmly held his ground. Showing a supernatural creature like this his fear was like asking it for a long, painful dead. He met the inhuman glare coldly. Suddenly a little thought made him twitch visibly. _He'd never turned around! The boy had just vanished from the spot he'd occupied behind him and reappeared in front of him again. How could he-?_ Immediately recovering his indifferent features, Oriya already knew that it was too late. The ´boy´ had noticed his temporal weakness.

However, the expected following attack never came.

Instead the other one just chuckled darkly, his features once again back to being dark and elegant. "I see you finally realized... You played a very dangerous game just now. I could have easily lost patience and killed you more than once. –You had luck." He nodded at him, like a teacher who'd handed out a great praise.

Waving his hand in a mocking way, he slowly walked past the stunned man. A few meters behind him, he stopped again; blazing garnet eyes drilling their gaze into the ebony-haired man's back.

"Tepesh."

"...?"

Pale, blood-less pallid-coloured lips turned into a tight smile. "My Name. You asked for it. I'm not normally using it, but the ones like you are calling me Tepesh." He explained.

"Uh...Yeah." If there was one good thing to say about Oriya, then that would be that he recovered quick from surprises. This time was no exception. Shooting this strange ´Tepesh´ a last glance, he raised his hand to the end of his pipe in an absentmindedly manner.

"Yeah. I too thought you were interesting company."

Having said those growled words, he turned and went his way back to the still ongoing festival.

-------------------------

Tepesh´s eyes glittered as he watched him go. A cat-like expression was painting his lips. _There he goes. Back to the festival with all it's food, the music, returns to his subordinates and servant girls... _His eyes turned blank for a moment, following the run of his thoughts.

"_You really think that you can run form me, huh? Back into that living world and all it's lights...? You poor fool." _He chuckled, a cruel sound telling of torture and viciousness. That's what all those fools thought. But wasn't it just that loud, annoying and brightly _living_ world that drove them all back to him one day?

He laughed again.

He had time. Gods knew, if somebody, then Tepesh truly had time! All the Time of the World. Though it wouldn't take Oriya that long to come back searching for him. He chuckled to himself. The darkness creature could wait.

Oriya would return.

_Mibu Oriya... What an interesting choice fate's made this time for the two of us, don't you think?_ He laughed again.

_---_

_Mysteryland (Mysteryland), Mysteryland (Mysteryland)..._

_---_


End file.
